hunting of the snark - take two 1.5

He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared,
When the ship had been sailing a week;
He could only kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared,
And was almost too freightened to speak.
"I engage with the Snark - every night after dark -
In a dream delirious fight:
I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes,
And I use it for striking a light.

"But if ever I meet with a Boojum, that day,
In a moment (of this I am sure),
I shall softly and suddenly vanish away -
And the notion I cannot endure!

hunting of the snark - take two 1.4

(magan has his coffee dregs read in istanbul)

They roused him with muffins - they roused him with ice -
They roused him with mustard and cress -
They roused him with jam and judicous advice -
They set him conundrums to guess.

When at length he sat up and was able to speak
His sad story he offered to tell;
And the Bellman cried "Silence! Not even a shriek!"
And excitedly tingled his bell.

"I skip forty years," said the Baker, in tears,
"And proceed without further remark
To the day when you took me aboard of your ship
To help you in hunting the Snark.

"A dear uncle of mine (after whom I was named)
Remarked, when I bade him farewell -"
"Ok, skip your dear uncle!" the Bellman exclaimed,
As he angrily tingled his bell.

"He remarked to me then," said that mildest of men,
"If your Snark be a Snark, that is right:
Fetch it home by all means - you may serve it with greens,
And it's handy for striking a light.

"But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again!"

hunting of the snark - take two 1.3

He came as a Baker; but owned, when too late -
And it drove the poor Bellman half mad -
He could only bake Bridecake - for which I may state,
No materials were to be had. (magan aka meatball magan! a sommelier from delhi who knew his wines better than his meats. we hit it out at the outset n endlessly pulled his leg about his descriptions of the food he'd just tried)
He served out some grog with a liberal hand,
And bade them sit down on the beach:
And they could not but own that their Captain looked grand,
As he stood and delivered his speech.
(this one is for all you guys who desperately wanted to come along as my asst to carry tripod, etc! often, we'd shoot well past lunch time n find no restaurant open, so we'd walk into a convenience store pick up a sandwich n coke n sit right outside on the road!! much to the amusement of the locals. this is in helsinki)
Friends, Romans and countrymen!
Please lend me your ears,
And I will carefully impart what you may have thought
for years,
But were too scared to ask,
By day or after dark;
In the Hunting of the Snark!

hunting of the snark - take two 1.2

But the danger was past - they had landed at last,
With their boxes, portmanteaus, and bags:
Yet at first sight the crew were not pleased with the view,
Which consisted of chasms and crags.
There was one who was famed for the number of things
He forgot when he entered the ship:
His umbrella, his watch, all his jewels and ring,
And the clothes he had bought for the trip.
(that's akshay - the asst director/prodn ass/shooter...the 'ung dude from delhi. he'd forget batteries around the place, lose equipment, trip over things...you get the drift;)

the hunting of the snark - take two 1.1

"Just the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.

The Bellman himself they all praised to the skies -
Such a carriage, such ease and such grace!
Such solemnity, too! One could see he was wise,
The moment one looked in his face!
(puneet, a dear ol friend's husband. the producer director of this travel food show who asked me to come along!)

coming soon!

...yup, so i'm off the shoot...writing from london. didn't ever get the time nor access to internet to write n post more...besides being frightfully expensive. but i'll soon be back n catch up with tons to tell n pics to share.

flying right past fnland!

..hi from stockholm...spent 5days in finland but baath kuch bani nahin. besides blondes do nothing for me ;)

awesome light esp at evenings...magic hours goes on forever!...ate reindeer meat which was suprisingly tasty n not chewy...drank the local brew kossu which is lighter than vodka...climbed up the tower at the olympic stadium in helsinki...went on a lovely boat cruise around the islands...had some great street side food, local snack, pastries n coffee...

of course, i'm makin it sound like it's been a dream...but the shoot's long n tiring n chaotic with almost no production support which is taking a toll on each of us. we got in this morn after a nice long 9hr ferry from turku...it is dark n cold n wet here in the land of my god - bergman n sven dada!...so much more...borg, nobel, abba...n to think they ruled over finland for 650 yrs!!

more when i get some more time...

cappadociaaaaaaaaaaaah!

left me speechless!...

istanbul photo post

view from our room in istanbul: shezade jadessi

the turks largely happy to have you, very friendly, the oldies break out into raj kapoor's "dil hai hindustani". the young un's can't get enough of SRK!

o the beautiful bosphorous! running north-south marking the point asia ends n europe begins

the hagia sophia built as a church n then a mosque now with the most exquisite mix of early christian n muslim art

eat drink europe!

...so i'm off again!...this time on a travel food show across europe! what else could i have asked for ;) istanbul. cappadocia. athens, pelopenesse. salzburg. vienna. helsinki. turku. stockholm...do i see you go all green?!! heehee so am gone for about 6weeks! the show for a soon to be launched lifestyle channel here in india. dunno if i'll get a chance to update while i'm away...that would've been ideal. am armed with my digital cam n mah new nokiah n 91 which has the most mindblowing sound i've heard come out these mobile/mp3 devices AND orhan pamuk! cheers!

the blew unbrella

...now vishal bhardwaj, i'd say is among the most exciting thinking directors we got in bollywood today. my fav is maqbool no doubt, followed by makdee. it is with this v high expection i went to see "the blue umbrella" this morn...he must've known it wasn't up to his high benchmark...wondered about this delayed release, considering it was ready before omkaara. all this became clear as the film unfolded...completely lacking emotion, the story plodded on at a slow pace, punctuated with some expectedly good music tho' unnecessary song dance numbers, ruined by some inconsistent "trying-hard-to-look-good" camerawork n patchy editing. shining thru some very dark frames was pankaj kapoor...he is just fantastic...breathing n living his character (much like he wow-ed us in maqbool), getting the look perfect and the accent. and the girl! - bright eyed n cute but didn't pull on the heart-strings (like say the girl in makdee)...i'd fault the script really, not her. so net-net, all wonderful ingredients not coming together...tch tch!

happy birthday channa!

the calm before the storm ;)

oye balley balley!

chak de last night got me so excited n so happy...so what if we had to crank our necks up from our second row seats...it was just so fantastic to see hockey up there on bada pardah...the passion with the girls played, delightfully peppered local-flavour dialogues (notwithstanding some awful cliches)...a good tight script (albeit a lil predictable tho' pacy first half)...and srk! o he must've had a blast doing this film. i mean, of course there were the ickky srk moments, when his voice quivers n his hands tremble...but it worked! and how!...a full house cheering lustily to the very end, almost like lagaan! but this was hockey! and that made me all teary-eyed!... well-researched and a good bit of detailed nuances in the way the game is played. o the girls!...just fantastic, esp my fav - the impish haryanvi chautala. the tension betw the fowards so real...the locker room backstabbings...transported me right back to my inter-school matches...three cheers! and five stars!!

the worst film list!

...something new i'm on to - instead of valliantly battling bombay's insane traffic, i walk into the nearest cinema hall/multiplex n settle into a film! sucker that i am, this evening walked into the gorgeous art-deco liberty at marine lines for "bow barracks forever"...as usual, i'm anxious to get a seat plonk in the middle of the hall, the guy behind the window bellows, "arrey kahin bhi baith jao!"

all of six people in this 1000 seater!!...and i soon learnt why!...attrocious, if ever there was a film worse than this. hamming for acting, awful music, stereotypical representation, badly written dialogue repeated o so often (in case you didn't get it the first time) you want to cry, a camera so reluctant to move, a wafer thin plot...grrrr i could go on...

and captive audience that i was, stayed on till the very end!... and yes, you guessed it - nothing really happened!...

so which was your worst film?...let's compile a list!

bergman rip

..seldom do you wake up feeling orphaned...first, they took away sven dada...n now the master himself - ingmar bergman! wondered how long he might've been playing chess with death...wonder what magic the two will conjure up now when they meet up again...

"there are moving pictures with sound and light which never leave the projector of the soul but run in loops throughout life with unchanging sharpness, unchanging objective clarity. Only one's own insight inexorably and relentlessly moves inwards towards the truth", he wrote in his autobiography.

may his soul rest in peace!...well n truly!

krvia workshop pic post

krvia workshop

..."hey ajay, we want you to conduct a 4day workshop for our students...do anything you feel like or wish to explore with them". ya sure, i said without thinking too much. and then the panic!...i hadn't done anything like this before, for architecture students at that! thinkin'thinkin'thinkin'...couldn't go beyond stuff i was obsessing about while working on the edit of my dad film ...memories...photographs...spaces... the opening of wim wender's film "notebook on cities and clothes" provided a perfect start:
we live in the cities
the cities live in us
time passes
we move from one city at another
from one country to another
we change languages
we change habits
we change opinions
we change clothes
we change everything
everything changes. and fast
images above all...

i wasn't working with a hypothesis...just kept it open end-ed and exploratory. hadn't a clue what to expect but very excited n nervous. talked to them about my film about my dad n took it further from there. introductions, perceptions, self-image n fav spaces... the first day was the hardest...had to talk a lot more than i had wanted to. wasn't able to get on top of things. the room was stuffy, the students reticent, the av equipment ng. i was exhausted by the evening...but from the second morning on they were flying n by the third morning they didn't even need me!

each evening on my long rick ride back home, would think how lovely n lucky these students were to have a faculty who valued these inter-disciplinary exchanges. there was ashok sukumaran and rahul srivastav who tripped along with another bunch of students taking them to other heights of experience n experimentation...

enjoyed every bit of it n learnt so much...esp how lame i am in my idea of the sacredness of an image...learnt how much more my laptop can do! o it was such fun! showed them hiroshima, mon amour and metropolis and blue...we struggled with how this would all come together on the last day as a presentation to the rest of the college. but they did fine...as you will see in the next post!

the last sip of koffee!

untitled2

...so there's this really beautiful bright soft warm knitted sweater stuck high up on this cliff's edge...n there he is hanging on to it for dear life. it's a little frayed at the end, something he didn't notice at first... n he's clutching on to all but one thread...he pulls on it and the woolen thread just goes fraaaap un-knitting itself in circles around...the harder he pulls the more it unravels...he can't feel the softness or the warmth anymore but he's still clutching on...

i'm back (yet again!)

damn! that took a long time recovering...not much happened since...though most significantly,my editor d got into srftii for editing. most kicked that she got in. but which meant that we've taken a break from editing. all well-timed coz i got busy with the last sked of koffee.

i think i'm gonna miss shooting this show more than any other. enjoyed it immensely! everything about it - the high profile ness, the look we achieved, the easy pace of the shoot, the absolutely wonderful kjo, the most understanding producers...and some good fun guests.

then, classes began at sophia's...some not-so-happy changes there...not as bright a batch as last years. but i enjoyed my first two classes immensely...my thirteenth year there!!!... and am now to take a 4day workshop at krvi...for about 40 architecture students. most nervous since i've never done anything like this before. cannot think of anything besides what i am already obsessing about these days while working on my own film - identity, images, memories and the city.

there's more...but by n by...am sorry if i got some of you worried...better now...cheers!

write/don't write

...i've been meaning to write, but also don't want to write...scared of committing to words what i don't want to remember. want so hard to forget what happened on the night of the 26th...when past-life whizzed by in flashes...in seconds i was staring at the blackest black...either i tip over into the precipice or walk away "cleanst". the fever raged at a hundred n two...while sleep eluded me...my second half life had begun...

i did it!

yes! i finally slapped someone! walking down from the train station to home amidst bumper to bumper traffic late one evening dodging manholes n garbage n the teeming millions on the road n behind the wheel...was someone at my heels blaring the horn like it was carnaval. n fuckin loud it was...0 to 100 in 1.5 sec my blood boiled, turned around to see it was a ricksha, i just bent down n slapped him so hard! i got as much of a fright as he did as he lunged toward me...i evaded successfully n gave him a earful of expletives n curses...essentially reminding him that the road wasn't his alone...o man! that felt soooo good!...:)

(now this was over a week back! i've been laid low with a viral...just about recovering!)

printed memories

..i sit across a table with my mum's sisters as they rummage thru their past recollecting for me all thay can remember about my dad...and my mum. they pull out lil brown paper packets of lil b/w photographs of a time i never knew but cherish so much. we hold them in our hands...look at them...closely...sending them deep into a spiral of memories...they give them to me those b/w photographs...i am overwhelmed... but can't help thinking of the future...what will they the gen next hold when we sit down together so many years later?...

sixty going on sixteen!

meeka n appa celebrated their sixtieth (!!!) wedding anniversary on the 9th earlier this month. decided to suprise them last week at this big family bash n went to delhi for a day. just fantastic, it was. meeka smiling thru all her aches n pains and appa pleased as punch to see his clan gather around. lots of good food and a long singing session deep into the night marked yet another milestone in this amazing ramaseshan phyllum! felt completely over-awed...how blessed can you get?!

whyyyy??!

why is it that some tapes digitise without a chuu? why do some tapes develop drop outs n timecode breaks when they were fine until yesterday? why does my old pc with premiere not protest as much as my new souped up macbook with fcp? why is it sooo hot n muggy? why do i ask the most ridiculous questions at the most inappropriate times? why do i adjust my frame so much n check focus so often? why do i....

the sky these days...

simply breathtaking...and this ethereal golden soft glow at sundown...mucho contento!

macbook edit config, etc

...just been all over the place...with way too many distractions to sit down write...but the haze is clearing...the edit is finally on course, thanks to so many whose brains i picked! so here's my config:
13inch macbook 2.0 Ghz intel core2 duo, ram up-ed to 2gb, 667MHz bus, 60gb internal hard disk. 2 lacie external hard disks (250 n 500gb), external mouse n keyboard, fcp 5.1 (universal binary for the new intel chips). 20in lg flat tv monitor. am using my panasonic cam to grab as well as a/v router. so firewire400 from cam to lacie1, firewire800 from 1 to lacie2, firewire400 from 2 to macbook.

then, the family went on our annual picnic...this time to uttan (north of gorai) n packed ourselves in an ac qualis! good fun, hot tho' but it stormed that evening n rained n was most beautiful...


then, went on a 3day shoot to gujarat - a film on climate change. shot at these 2 villages by the sea in bharuch n valsad where the sea has encroached some 6-7kilometers in 15-20 years!! and the villagers have had to rebuild thrice everything - homes, schools, temples!...but it was hot as hell...came back burnt n sore. no pics tho!...
am still scattered even now as i write...will stop here...more soon!

bheja fried!

...been two weeks since i got back to work on my film about my dad...but structure, edit, script toh is doooor ki baat...my head's been swimming over pc vs mac, premiere vs fcp, laptop vs desktop, 250gb vs 500gb, lcd vs crt, pirated vs legal software, to log or not to log...but it is begining to settle down...after chewing lots of friends ka brains...we're going the fcp macbook route...will tell more as i progress!

in the midst of all this, one night at mukul's party, again i got smashed n left without saying bye to anyone...hopeless!!

untitled 1

I'm talking to the shadows
from 1 o'clock til 4
And lord, how slow the moments go
When all I do is pour
Black coffee
Since the blues caught my eye
I'm hanging out on Monday
My Sunday dreams to dry

sahyog photo workshop

around this time last year, an ol' college friend - neha who works with cehat had asked me to do a photo workshop with a group of teenaged girls from the jari mari area near the airport...a whole year later, it finally happened! tho' closer home...

over two half days, we looked wrote drew talked n yes, took pics...




this group of largely muslim girls were doing stuff like this for the first time...their responses to looking and being looked at...about conforming to an image of themselves...so deep seated it would take me months to draw them out...n my hindi not helping things! but hey, (again) how do you explain perpective, depth, 2D to 3D in hindi? i mean, they understood what i was talking about...but ain't there some words?
but i enjoyed myself thoroughly tho' felt annoyed with the ngo that organised this. not willing to put any thought into it, quite content ki workshop kiya bacchon ke liye holidays mein. needles to say i haven't heard from them since!

for rohan!

this morning at sppl on the fringes of civilisation somewhere in goregaon east...here to take a photography workshop for kids who've had their homes demolished around the airport at jari mari...as i huffed n puffed up-slope to this dense towering maze, i remembered rohan's post... "and as non-rectilinear shapes try unsuccessfully to distort the concrete boxes".

trikone was "the" shape of the morning...

kashmir

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face
Stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space
To be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race
This world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait
All will be revealed ...

south north

needles to say... all good things should get better. so off we went to kuntal's for pao-bhaji n beer...such a gorgeous house!

and then!...to chandu payal's to suprise payal on the eve of her birthday...fairly crossed-eyed n very red-eyed by now!!